Our previous applications and provisional applications, including, but not limited to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/018,069, filed Jan. 22, 2008, entitled “Wireless Apparatus and Methods”, the disclosure of which is herewith incorporated by reference, describe wireless transfer of power.
The transmit and receiving antennas described here are operated at frequencies exactly equal to or close to their resonance. The receive antenna is preferably of a small size to allow it to fit into a mobile, handheld device where the available space for the antenna may be limited. An embodiment describes a high efficiency antenna for the specific characteristics and environment for the power being transmitted and received.
One embodiment may be usable in a configuration that transfers power between two antennas by means of the intermediate portions of space, by storing all or part of the energy in the near field of the transmitting antenna, rather than sending the energy into free space in the form of a travelling electromagnetic wave.
Embodiments operate with high quality factor (Q) antennas.
In one embodiment, two high-Q antennas are placed such that they receive power similarly to a loosely coupled transformer, with one antenna inducing power into the other. The antennas preferably have Qs that are greater than 1000.